20627_Spring 2002 3/19/02 11:12 AM Page 2
by Ann Nicholson
As prosecutor at the Nuremberg trial, author of the landmark
Tyranny on Trial, and proponent of the International
Criminal Court, Whitney R. Harris advocates universal justice.
“Hitler led Germany into the abyss. … In his brief hour about history’s stage, he caused the commission of crimes of the greatest
magnitude ever endured by suffering humanity. … World War II is
now an event of history. Germany, free of Nazism, is once more a
respected member of the world community. ... As never before in
history, the prospect has opened for the establishment of world
peace and justice, under the rule of law. The opportunity is here to
end war on this planet, and turn to the exploration of new worlds
in the unfolding universe. … In shunning the evil of yesterday, we
(must) not forget the wrongs to which it led—and having forgotten
them, believe them never to have happened.”
Whitney R. Harris, Tyranny on Trial
The year was 1945. The Nazi regime
had been stopped in its tracks, the second world war had finally ended, and
the world demanded that those directly
involved in orchestrating the heinous
acts of aggression and unprecedented
brutality pay for their crimes. Allied
leaders advocated an international military tribunal and persuaded others, wishing to shoot the Nazi leaders on the
spot, that the rule of law was the only
means of ensuring universal justice.
For Whitney R. Harris, a young
United States naval officer and attorney,
the Nuremberg trial not only enabled
him to join the prosecution team in
using the legal system to bring about
peaceful resolution, but also shaped the
rest of his professional career.
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In Tyranny on Trial, a major treatise
for a life destroyed—is a tribute to the
originally published in 1954 and upcalm judgment of men trained in law
dated in 1995 and 1999, Harris, now
who channeled the fury of the hurt and
89, preserves for posthe oppressed into a
terity the circumjudicial forum. There
"That
the
end
of
World
War
II
stances surrounding
the record of the Nazi
Nuremberg.
crimes was published
did not lead to reprisals
“It is the nature
against the German people and preserved for hisof man that, shocked
tory, the responsibili—a life taken for a life
and revolted by acts
ty of those who comof wanton cruelty,
mitted those crimes
destroyed—is a tribute to
he shall strike back
was judicially estabthe calm judgment of
at the perpetrator,”
lished and declared,
men
trained
in
law
who
Harris wrote in his
and a punishment
book. “That the end
was visited upon the
channeled the fury of the
of World War II did
guilty commensurate
hurt and the oppressed
not lead to reprisals
with civilized staninto a judicial forum."
against the German
dards of criminal
people—a life taken
accountability.”
Whitney R. Harris
20627_Spring 2002 3/19/02 11:12 AM Page 3
Naming of the Institute
Honors Whitney R. Harris
In recognition of Whitney R. Harris’ achievements in the field of international justice and his support of legal education and research, the
School of Law held a ceremony February 7, 2002, to name its Institute
for Global Legal Studies in his
honor. Harris has given a gift of
$2 million to support the Institute.
“The University has been
strengthened by the wonderful
generosity of Whitney Harris; his
wife, Anna; and his family. We
are very grateful for Whitney’s
interest in our law school, our
libraries, and many other academic and artistic endeavors on
our campus, which, over the
years, have been greatly
Whitney and Anna Harris were
toasted at the dedication ceremony
enhanced by his support,” says
for the Whitney R. Harris Institute
Chancellor Mark S. Wrighton.
for Global Legal Studies.
“This gift from Whitney to the
law school will provide critical support to place the Whitney R.
Harris Institute for Global Legal Studies among the top centers
of its kind in the world.”
Joel Seligman, dean and the Ethan A.H. Shepley University
Professor, says that Harris’ connection with the Institute is a wonderful
match. “It is rare that the purpose of an educational entity can be
matched so well with the career of the individual after whom it is
named. Whitney Harris was a prosecutor at Nuremberg, championed
international law through his book on the Nuremberg trial, and, more
recently, has been an advocate for a permanent international criminal
court,” Seligman says. “We are pleased the Institute, which focuses on
the key international legal issues of our time, is now associated with
Whitney’s legacy.”
Now in its second year, the Institute has hosted close to 30 individuals or delegations of speakers from throughout the world. Harris was
among the participants in the Institute’s inaugural colloquium on “The
United Nations and the Protection of Human Rights.” He noted that his
former directorship of a program for foreign law students at Southern
Methodist University—combined with his experience at Nuremberg and
work promoting the International Criminal Court—sparked an immediate interest in the Institute and its global legal focus.
For the latest Institute news,
visit http://law.wustl.edu/igls
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Mary Butkus
Harris described how the
Nuremberg trial created a precedent
establishing that the leaders of any
future regime who commit acts of
aggressive war, war crimes, or crimes
against humanity may be prosecuted
in a court of law.
“There is no longer any state, or
any ruler of any state, who can claim
total immunity from the law,” Harris
wrote in the preface to his book. “At
Nuremberg we put Tyranny on Trial.
It is our duty to keep tyrants forever
under the law. The story of Hitler’s
Germany is recorded here—a lesson
for all humanity.”
A 1936 graduate of the University
of California–Berkeley Law School,
Harris was practicing law in Los
Angeles when Japanese air forces
bombed Pearl Harbor. “It was Sunday
morning, December 7, 1941, when we
heard the news by radio. The United
States was at war,” Harris recalls. “I
applied for enlistment in the United
States Navy, was accepted, and served
as a line officer until I was transferred
to the Office of Strategic Services
toward war’s end.”
OSS placed Harris in charge
of the investigation of German war
crimes in the European theater.
He established his headquarters in
St. James, London, close by British
Intelligence headquarters.
“While I was on this assignment,
Justice Robert H. Jackson, United
States chief of counsel, came to
London to negotiate the charter for
the international military tribunal to
try the principal German war criminals,” Harris says. “I occasionally supplied his office with incriminating
German documents and was invited
to join his staff. I accepted the offer,
and transferred with the staff to
Nuremberg in August 1945.”
Because of his knowledge of
German intelligence, Harris was
assigned the case against Ernst
Kaltenbrunner, the head of the Reich
Main Security Office and its two primary branches: the Secret Police, or
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Gestapo, and the Security Service,
or SD.
One of the highlights of this
assignment was the interrogation of
Otto Ohlendorf, the chief of intelligence inside Germany, shortly before
the trial began. “When I asked him
to describe his services during the war,
he mentioned that he had worked for
a year as chief of the Einsatzgruppe D.
I recalled a letter written by a man
named Becker from an Einsatzcommando complaining of the malfunctioning of a gas van operating in
the Eastern territories, and was inspired
to ask Ohlendorf: ‘During the year you
were chief of Einsatzgruppe D, how
many men, women, and children did
your group kill?’ He answered, ‘90,000.’
This was the first evidence on the
Holocaust received from a witness
at Nuremberg.”
Toward the end of the trial, after
the prosecution had rested its case,
Harris similarly interrogated, over a
period of three days, Rudolf Hoess, the
former head of the Auschwitz concentration camp in Poland. Hoess confessed to establishing extermination
facilities in Auschwitz, where, he testified, 2.5 million victims were exterminated. (While Rudolf Hess, Hitler’s
deputy, was a defendant at Nuremberg,
Auschwitz commandant Hoess was
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Jackson wrote in the introduction
to the book shortly before his death:
“Never have the archives of a belligerent
nation been so completely exposed as
were those of Nazi Germany at the
Nuremberg trial. They were laid out in
a courtroom before the very highest of
their surviving authors, who, with able
counsel and firsthand knowledge, subjected them to correction, explanation,
and attempted justification. …
“But its record of 42 volumes
is too vast, detailed, and disjointed
for general study. Now Professor
Harris—by scholarship and experience
admirably qualified—in the calm of
intervening years has prepared a factual
At the podium, Whitney R. Harris
summary of the evidence that is objecaddresses the court during the
tive, accurate, and comprehensive.”
1945 Nuremberg trial.
A 1954 New York Times book
review notes Harris’ “masterly and
meticulous condensation” of the vast
number of documents and referred to
turned over to Polish authorities for
Tyranny on Trial as “one of those books
prosecution.)
that are heart-rending to read and perFor his services at Nuremberg,
ilous to ignore.”
Harris was awarded the Legion of
Since Nuremberg, Harris has
Merit, the highest award received by
championed the cause of international
any trial counsel. He then transferred
human rights through updates to his
to Berlin where he served in the
book that address
United States milisubsequent prosecutary government as
chief of the Legal
"Never have the archives of tions in national
courts and through
Advice Branch.
In 1948, Robert a belligerent nation been so numerous speaking
G. Storey, who had
completely exposed as were engagements.
He donated to
served as executive
those of Nazi Germany at
Washington
trial counsel at
the Nuremberg trial. …
University’s Olin
Nuremberg before
Library in 1981 his
becoming dean of
Now Professor Harris—by
Southern Methodist
scholarship and experience collection on the
Third Reich of
University School of
admirably qualified—in
Germany, which is
Law, invited Harris
now housed in the
the calm of intervening
to join the law faculty. While he was a
years has prepared a factual Jane and Whitney
Harris Reading
law professor at
summary of the evidence
Room.
SMU from 1948 to
that is objective, accurate,
He is an out1954, Harris wrote
spoken
proponent
Tyranny on Trial,
and comprehensive."
of international
the first compreJustice Robert H. Jackson
tribunals that
hensive view of the
have built upon
Nuremberg proceedNuremberg’s legacy.
ings. In addition to
He regrets that no charges were ever
his own experiences, he drew upon the
brought against Iraqi dictator Saddam
42-volume transcript of the proceedings
Hussein and fully supports the United
and other records.
20627_Spring 2002 3/13/02 12:20 PM Page 5
Nations Security Council’s establishment of criminal tribunals to address
acts of genocide in the former
Yugoslavia and Rwanda.
In 1998, Harris was a nongovernmental organization delegate to the
Rome conference on establishing an
International Criminal Court. He fully
supports the statute, which will come
into force when ratified by 60 of the
signers of the ICC treaty, likely by the
end of 2002.
“The 20th century, which
spawned the gravest wars of history,
has found redemption in the great
achievements of international law at
Nuremberg and Rome,” Harris says.
“The achievements of that great trial
and historic conference—in elevating
justice and law over inhumanity and
war—give promise for a better tomorrow for humanity in a world of peace
under the rule of law.”◆
In his home office, Whitney R. Harris
reflects on the Nuremberg legacy.
New Director
Named for Institute
John O. Haley, the Wiley B. Rutledge
Professor of Law, will become director of
the Whitney R. Harris Institute for Global
Legal Studies on July 1, 2002. He succeeds
Stephen Legomsky, the Charles F. Nagel
Professor of International and Comparative Law, who will serve as
chairperson of the Institute’s Faculty Advisory Board and as liaison
to the Institute’s International Council.
“Haley is a distinguished comparative law scholar with an interest
in all things international and particular expertise in the law of Japan,”
says Legomsky. “I am delighted that the Institute will be in such capable
hands, and I look forward to working with him.”
Haley is known among practicing lawyers and scholars throughout
the world. Formerly the Garvey, Schubert & Barer Professor of Law and
of International Studies and director of the Asian Law Program at the
University of Washington–Seattle, he joined the Washington University
School of Law in July 2000.
The principal focus of his research has been Japanese law. Haley’s
scholarly works span issues ranging from land-use law to adjudicatory
jurisdiction. He has written extensively on Japanese legal history, on
competition law and other trade-related issues, on judicial organization
and independence, and on restorative justice.
Haley’s original scholarship has helped define how legal rules are
used and enforced in Japan. He has also conducted extensive research
on regulatory rules and the administrative process, particularly what
the Japanese call administrative guidance.
In the course of his scholarship, Haley has highlighted areas in
which the Japanese approach yields positive results, including Japan’s
restorative approach to criminal justice and the degree to which its
judiciary has been virtually free of corruption.
To deepen his understanding of the comparative context of the
Japanese legal system, Haley began over two decades ago to examine the continental European—particularly German—antecedents of
Japanese law. This effort expanded in the 1990s to a broader teaching and research interest in comparative legal traditions, particularly
the development and spread of the tradition of civil law in Europe,
Latin America, and East Asia.
Haley has written three books and edited or co-edited four
others. He is also co-editor of a leading comparative law casebook,
The Civil Law Tradition: Europe, Latin America, and East Asia, as well
as three sets of English-language teaching materials on Japanese
law. His 1991 book, Authority Without Power: Law and the Japanese
Paradox, and 1978 article, “The Myth of the Reluctant Litigant,” are
both considered seminal works in the field.
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